relaxing weekend

bob and i had a wonderful relaxing weekend, just way too short. we had hoped to leave early friday afternoon to go up north but did not get away until 6pm. upon arriving at 10:30pm, i quickly made a pan of gooey brownies for our birthday treat. nothing tastes better than warm brownies ala mode! we did sing our "happy birthday to us" song before inhaling the warm delicacy.

saturday morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise over lake michigan. after breakfast we took in recyclables as it was "recyclable saturday", the second and fourth saturday of every month. that was a ritual russ used to enjoy when he was still able to drive. on our way home we stopped at the cemetery. i removed the summer flowers and planted another mum plant next to russ' grave. friends had planted one for gene in august and it survived the drought and is quite large and beautiful now. bob and i even laughed about his adventure before the burial and hoped that gene and russ were still giggling about it as well.

we then took a long beach walk. for october, lake michigan was surprisingly warm. i had no desire to take a dip but my toes didn't freeze when i put them in. the lake itself was as clear and clean as i can ever remember it. with the drought this summer, the beach was as big as i can recall and large pieces of limestone were exposed beneath the water that are usually covered with sand.

after our walk, i packed a picnic lunch and off we went to go enjoy the fall color. this is something both my parents loved to do and something i guess i inherited. we were pleasantly surprised that even with no rain this summer the leaves were beautiful. the pictures above were taken this past weekend. we found a quiet area to enjoy our lunch and admire the peaceful beauty of the area.

saturday evening we enjoyed dinner with some friends of ours who were up for the weekend as well.

sunday we did things around the house in the morning. cut the grass one last time, raked and blew leaves, set up mouse traps, took down the flag. i wanted to make sure everything was done before the packers played at noon. after the game we finished tiding up and then left. we stopped at the cemetery one last time.

i really hated to leave but work again called us back sooner than we had hoped. i just love it up there. we both do. bob grew up about 45 minutes from there and i really feel our mutual love for that area is what initially attracted us to each other. we hope when we retire one day to be able to call door county home. i have to admit that as hard as it was to leave it was a little easier knowing that both of my parents are now there together. i am no longer leaving my mom by herself. russ is by her side where he belongs.